The First Feast

Summary

When the Giants first were created, it is said that they struggled to understand the necessity of food at first. Some accidentally ate things, surviving for a generation or so, but they didn't understand why eating was necessary. Around 60% of the Giants died of starvation before the Gods decided to step in.   It was Erra, who would later be associated with the culinary arts, that introduced the Giants to food. He explained, in the primitive way the early Giants communicated, what was toxic and what they could eat. He told them how important it was to eat, because otherwise they would die like those around them had.   The issue was that they then couldn't stop eating. They picked all the berries and fruits around them, hunted all local wildlife, and worst of all refused to share what they had.   To the first Giants, it was a belief after Erra's first lesson that if they stopped eating, they would die, and they had no idea that this resource was scarce. There was only so much food until they learned agriculture, and that was still beyond their capabilities. They needed to learn to ration and share, so Erra needed to take drastic measures.   Erra showed the Giants how to cook over a flame, making meat safe to eat and improving the taste of a great deal of foods available to the Giants. He may have even shown them how to season their food with whatever seasoning was available to them in that region.   And with that, he threw himself over the flame and said:

"You may never, under any circumstances, eat a fellow man. It does not matter their gender, their creed, the way they express themselves, or how you may disagree with them. That is a food beyond the taboos I have taught you about.

That is not food at all... but I am no man. I am the manifestation of the broad palette, yet I am finite. Savor each bite, for you will never taste it again."

— Erra

And as the Giants tried to understand his words, his body split apart, each into a new type of food that did not (at the time) exist. Whether these dishes that Erra became exist today or are still some alien dishes beyond mortal comprehension are up for debate, but whatever the case, his message was understood. Cannibalism became one of the first true taboos in Giant society, and as they ate the body of the God, tasting heaven for the first time and noticing that it was running out and likely never to be made again, they realized they had to take care not to eat it too fast, and groups formed to prevent any one person from taking all of the food for themselves. The Giants had learned to share, breaking the bread of Erra with each other to ensure no one ate more than any other.   Thus, the first feast was held, as the Giants ate the God Erra, a meal fit for the Angels.   Erra, of course, was fine, as this was nothing more than a vessel that the God had manifested within. He watched on as the Giants learned their lesson well, though he made sure to keep his future appearances to Giants sparse, preferring to send messages through other Gods when he could. Before he appeared again later in history, he was believed to have been the very first God to die, a lie ironically spread by the Nameless God, who would go on to die first instead.  

Historical Basis

Due to the time between when this story supposedly took place and when the tablet was discovered, let alone when the story actually became known around the world, there is no guarantee that any of it has even a shred of truth.   When the story first reached the Abral Islands, where Erra's temple is located, he was told the story to determine whether it was true or not. Upon reaching the conclusion, he is said to have laughed and replied:

"Is that so? Those Giants loved their tall tales, but if they say I did that, it may just be true!"

— Erra

  As it was so long ago, and time is said to pass even slower for the Gods, it is possible that it did happen, at least an event resembling it, and that Erra simply forgot. Otherwise, this myth was created by Mammen pirates to glorify a God they barely had any faith in, which doesn't add up either. While the Mammen had been running low on food in their seafaring days, there is no reason why they would not instead tell a myth about a God they had more faith in like Janus or even Satanael. If it was the Mammen, why Erra?   So few records like this were kept by the Giants, and only stories of great importance such as She Who Lingered in the Void, meaning that if this was an actual Giant legend, it is one so vital that they kept records on stone tablets. But if so, why has there been no other corroborating evidence referring to this story? Why was this tablet the only existing record even mentioning the tale?  

Spread

The stone tablet that this was found on was so massive that it took three Mammen ships lined up alongside each other to carry it. When it was first found, it nearly fell into the ocean again, but the work of a crew full of water mages kept it afloat long enough to get more ships to help them.   What text remained on the tablet, not eroded in the waves, was difficult to read at first. The language of the Giants wasn't known by the Mammen, and it required scholars to decipher. But that was only what was left on there, as some words and letters had faded away, unintelligible to most readers. Luckily, as the text had been written large for Giants, it was easy to see the markings when one was the size of a Mamman, making filling in the blank spaces difficult but not impossible.   The Mammen connected with this story (if they did not make it up themselves), as their ancestors came from the Giant Kingdom, and they (seafaring nomads they were) had also been struggling to acquire food, just like the early Giants did. As they told it on their ships, it spread to the ports they traveled to. Some took to it faster than others, with the Lizardfolk in particular (who had only recently settled their own cities on the western coast of Udai) loving the story.   It didn't become a core story people think of when they think of Giant culture until the rise and fall of the Neo-Giant Kingdom. They had taken the story and made it one of their core foundational myths, and as news of them spread, so too did the story as more than a silly Mammen fairytale. Even when the Neo-Giant Kingdom was no more, with most of its influence fading, this story stuck, and what may have once been an important story for the earliest humanoids in Totania regained the popularity it once had.  

Cultural Reception

There are two major interpretations of this myth in the modern era. The first is the sympathetic view of it, carried over from the Ancient Era, where people see this as a tale of the benevolence of the Gods. Erra made sure to teach the Giants everything he could about the basics of food and cuisine, and for that it is a sign that perhaps the teachings of the Mighty Herald in the Post-Heraldic Age of Faith are not correct, and that some Gods truly do wish to help mortalkind.   The Mighty Herald himself, as well as other forces responsible for the Post-Heraldic Age, teach something else. They claim that this story portrays Erra in a negative light, tricking the Giants with magic beyond their comprehension and feeding them magical food instead of allowing them to develop on their own (something they were more capable of than the Gods gave them credit for). The Herald says that the rules given are largely arbitrary, not necessarily endorsing cannibalism (though he has never outright denounced it), but saying that Erra told them not to eat each other, and then encouraged them to eat him.   In the Post-Heraldic Age, the image of "eating a God' has been used by the Herald to push for the rise of self-worth and belief in mortals having the ability to rise to the status of Gods together, sharing in the power like he teaches his Paragons of Unity. Erra's sacrifice is used instead as a lesson from the Herald on how to ascend: not alone, but side-by-side, taking a piece each and making sure no one is left behind.

"The Gods themselves gave us the blueprint. It was among the first lessons taught to mortalkind: we must eat, and the greatest meal of all is upon the bones of those that sit the thrones of Heaven.

I recognize your aversion to the concept of eating a God. But was it not the God of Cuisine who first proposed the idea? Was it not the Lord of All Foods who gave his body to the Giants so they might survive?

My friends, we find ourselves in the midst of a crisis, just as those Giants once did. We are starving spiritually, and we are starving emotionally. We are abandoned by our Gods, and they expect us to starve! But I say we must take after those that came before us and indulge ourselves in the meal once presented to us, now denied by the very Gods who claim they wish to help us! Where is that help? Where is the nourishment we deserve?

We will eat the Gods, my friends! We will eat them until we all sit among them!"

— The Mighty Herald